<p>I realized recently that I’ve been saying “I’m not really into video games” quite a bit. Its not false, necessarily: I don’t own any consoles, I have a desktop computer that I never use, it has Steam on it with a few games that I never really played, I joined the Steam-on-linux beta through work, installed TF2, but still have yet to play it… I just don’t really get into it all that much. I can certainly understand games as fun, and especially as a means of social interaction. I had consoles growing up (Sega Genesis and an N64) and a step-brother to play with. However, that never really translated to playing solo, and with the lack of play time after my mom and step-dad’s divorce, I lost the feel for it and when I moved into the dorms for college, I never wound up playing in any of the nightly games of Mario Kart or Smash Brothers.</p>
<p>So yeah, it’s certainly true that I’m not all that into video games in the same sense that this article is talking about. However, I’ve been a part of several MUCKs and IRC channels that work in many of the same ways that MMORPGs work: one goes through the process of character creation and, in a much less formal way, builds up a guild of friends, amasses social currency, and so on. These were my games, and, much like in the article, that’s where a lot of my exploration of gender took place. These characters that I created were an extension of myself, and it was through these extensions that I was most easily able to think about gender as it pertained to myself, and to interact with others in such a way as to gain that ‘real life experience’ without being, as the author put it, a man in a dress.</p>
<p>So yeah, the “not really into video games” quote, while it still holds true in many ways, doesn’t totally apply, as I managed to find my own outlets, characters, and game-like experiences to help me figure things out. This is, I think, one of the biggest upsides to video games: the ability to tell a story that others can experience and immerse themselves within.</p>
